A great pic of Dan Farson eating it up on the F800. I tell you what, competition aside, he is one heck of a rider. The best thing about his riding is that you can tell its all old school on the seat tech trials stuff, none of that hot rod showboat stuff all us young bucks try.

More pictures to come so stay tuned, and tell your friends where to find the pics, I am also posting most of these on the BMW Motorrad US page right next to where you vote.

"A great pic of Dan Farson eating it up on the F800. I tell you what, competition aside, he is one heck of a rider. The best thing about his riding is that you can tell its all old school on the seat tech trials stuff, none of that hot rod showboat stuff all us young bucks try."

Dan was amazing. Like a train on rails. Up down over-around putt putt putt right up a cliff.

I agree the hill wasn't all it was made out to be, however hill climbs are a special beast. With most other obstacles you can make decisions on the fly, and if you fail you can always just stop and put your feet down. On a hill you have to make all the decisions on the ground before you head up, you have to anticipate what the bike is going to do, which line is best, which line is the back up, and where to bail if you have no other choice. It is a great way to test a riders confidence and ability to foresee unknowns. I found that the number one skill they tested was "heads up riding" by that I mean riding 10-30 yards ahead of the bike, which is something most novices have a hard time with.

#1 lesson from my early days: when in doubt, gas it!
#2 lesson: don't look at what you want to miss, look at where you want to go
#3lesson: the further you look ahead the faster and smoother you will ride
#4 lesson: don't fall down

Amazing how simple this stuff is and how easy it is to get out of the habit!

DH

__________________You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD -40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tapeBMW 1200 GS AdventureBMW 1970 R75/5
Suzuki DRZ 400S

#1 lesson from my early days: when in doubt, gas it!
#2 lesson: don't look at what you want to miss, look at where you want to go
#3lesson: the further you look ahead the faster and smoother you will ride
#4 lesson: don't fall down

Amazing how simple this stuff is and how easy it is to get out of the habit!

DH

Words of wisdom

+1

__________________"If you're going to be stupid, you've got to be tough" -N.E.R.R.

Hey Sean, you got back to VT OK? Everything dry on the outside and inside of that GSA?

DH

__________________You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD -40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tapeBMW 1200 GS AdventureBMW 1970 R75/5
Suzuki DRZ 400S

Hey Sean, you got back to VT OK? Everything dry on the outside and inside of that GSA?

DH

Yeah! Dry as a bone! Was a great ride back....
Stopped at my buddies in PA for an overnight, he's got 2 GSA's... Changed the trans oil, no water!!!!!
And meandered my way from there!
Installed my new FD with 3.0 gear ratio, stock is 2.8, lovin it! Some nice torque :)
Working sucks.... Wish I could have just kept riding

__________________"If you're going to be stupid, you've got to be tough" -N.E.R.R.

#1 lesson from my early days: when in doubt, gas it!
#2 lesson: don't look at what you want to miss, look at where you want to go
#3lesson: the further you look ahead the faster and smoother you will ride
#4 lesson: don't fall down

Amazing how simple this stuff is and how easy it is to get out of the habit!

Well back in the day #4 was: if you never fall down you aren't going fast enough.

Now that I am old and don't heal as fast, I have made the necessary adjustment to the new #4.

__________________You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD -40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tapeBMW 1200 GS AdventureBMW 1970 R75/5
Suzuki DRZ 400S

I'm sure looking back, everyone (except Dan perhaps) can say; "I shoulda done this, or if I only didn't..." but the point of the whole challenge was to test your skill to the limit and see who came up on top. The whole weekend everyone was second guessing their own performance and was relieved to hear others were having the same problems.

I really do believe any one of us could have been in the top three, it was just a matter of making the fewest mistakes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Visian

Second highest score on Day 1 technical riding and highest on-pavement..... I was doing really well until I missed a course marking for the hill on the second day and blew the nav challenge (shoulda used my GPS odometer!)...

__________________It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.

Heck, between you and Maury on his R100GS I think all of us GSA riders were thinking about buying an R80 or R100 for the next event. You guys did great and showed all of us a thing or two. Of course I realize it wasn't the bike but the rider that made all the difference. Both you guys have a lot of saddle time.

I wouldn't have dreamed of doing this on my HP2e... I knew there would be many tight and technical riding challenges. Between that bike's wheelbase and seat height, and the length of my inseam, the G/SPD+ was a better choice.

Yo, Halfplate, I did not see this hill climb. This looks much trickier than the other one, didn't know there was another section. Was this done after the first loop on day three? I was having some bike issues and didn't spectate at this section.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HalfPlate

Day 3 hill climb

__________________You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD -40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tapeBMW 1200 GS AdventureBMW 1970 R75/5
Suzuki DRZ 400S

If you listen carefully on this one you can hear me stall and restart the engine on the go couldn't believe I pulled that off on a bike I had all of 10 min of experience on and had never started. (listen for an engine start at 0:09, that's me restarting, the other engines you hear are other contestants headed up the trail.

DH,
Yes this was the second challenge for the finalist on day three, and by far the most technical.
-Andrew Lacy

I was that other contestant heading up the hill (starting around 0:16)...Until this video, I had no idea why I fell down. It happened too quick.
While watching this video, I raised RPM to cross over the rut, rear end slid a little sideways, and I stalled the engine AGAIN That was my 3rd drop of the day. At that point, I was spent with very little reserve energy left.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HalfPlate

For your viewing pleasure: GS Trophy Hill Climb

If you listen carefully on this one you can hear me stall and restart the engine on the go couldn't believe I pulled that off on a bike I had all of 10 min of experience on and had never started. (listen for an engine start at 0:09, that's me restarting, the other engines you hear are other contestants headed up the trail.

DH,
Yes this was the second challenge for the finalist on day three, and by far the most technical.
-Andrew Lacy

__________________It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.